Only nine Texans carry the state's free election identification certificate, created to counter fears that the new voter identification law would block some from polling places.

Secretary of State John Steen unveiled a campaign Tuesday to increase that number before the first elections under the new law this November.

From the lobby of Holman Street Baptist Church, Steen said the politically savvy parish would be one of the first locations visited by a mobile sign-up team, one of dozens targeting Texas ZIP codes where voter registration information does not perfectly match state driver's license data.

Equipped with a laptop, camera and backdrop, the two-person mobile units will clarify which six forms of identification will ensure a voter's ballot counts under the controversial new law, and, if needed, complete the paperwork for one of the election certificates. The campaign will continue through the 2014 elections.

Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart and Tax Assessor-Collector Mike Sullivan supported the state's registration efforts and are expected to announce their own voter education drives in coming weeks. Both encouraged people who can afford the $6 to $16 state personal ID card to apply for one instead of an election identification certificate because it has more accepted uses.

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VOTER ID

A voter will be required to show one of the following forms of photo identification before being permitted to cast a ballot in November: a Texas driver license, a Texas election identification certificate, a Texas personal identification card, a Texas concealed handgun license, a United States military identification card with a photograph, a United States citizenship certificate with a photograph or a United States passport. More information on how to obtain a free election identification certificate and which drivers license offices are open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to issue the certificates can be found at www.dps.texas.gov and www.votetexas.gov, or by calling the Department of Public Safety at 512-424-2600.

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Earlier this month, the Department of Public Safety announced50 driver's license offices, 11 of them in Harris County, would be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays solely to issue the certificates.

Steen declined to guess how many people may need one. "It's a little bit of an X factor, but we want to reach everybody that doesn't have one of the six approved forms of ID," he said.

Deputy Secretary of State Coby Shorter said the office's ZIP code analysis identified about 700,000 registered voters for whom they could not find driver's licenses or whose information did not match that on their driver's licenses.

"I'm one of those people who aren't a perfect match," Shorter said. "But I have a photo ID and can vote."

That number has fired up many Democrats and voter advocates who condemned the 2011 law and continue to fight it in courts. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for its implementation with a ruling in June despite concerns it could restrict some voters' ability to exercise their basic democratic right.

Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party, pointed to the few people issued an election identification certificate as proof that thousands of eligible voters will not have an acceptable identification to get into polls.

"The most widely held ID is a driver's license. People who don't have that are not likely to have a concealed handgun license or passport," he said.

Dunn said the mobile campaign would be inadequate to address the gap, in part, because so many are affected and some eligible voters simply do not have the documents needed to be issued a certificate.

Texas Republican Chairman Steve Munisteri applauded the mobile sign-up campaign and saw a different meaning in the low number of certificates issued: fears of blocking voters from the polls are unfounded.

He suggested the secretary of state's count of voter registrations that did not match driver's licenses strengthen arguments for the law.

"Some of those people are registered at an address where they're not at," Munisteri said. "The state is making it so easy for people to register to be able to vote."

Jayme Fraser covers government and growth in Katy and Fort Bend. She has worked at the Houston Chronicle since 2012, writing about city government, religion, housing and homelessness. Before coming to Texas, she reported on state and tribal governments, social services, higher education and other topics at dailies throughout the Northwest.